“First Love” is a 1936 Ford three-window coupe originally purchased in 1958 by nine-year-old Ross Myers. For his $25.00 he got a “car” that was really no more than a body and some fenders. His intention was to build a hot rod he could use in high school. When another early car (this one with an engine) came his way, the young man put the Ford in his father’s barn where it sat untouched for over forty years. When the car came out of the barn, he decided that it deserved to be turned into the finest 1936 Ford hot rod the world had ever seen. Built over a period of three years by Rad Rides by Troy, a well-known Illinois-based hot rod designer/builder, the car incorporates sophisticated and creative body, drive train and suspension designs never before seen anywhere. The beautiful and innovative car won the coveted Ridler Award at the 2007 Detroit Autorama, the first time it appeared in public. In it’s coverage of the event, Hot Rod Magazine wrote that, in terms of winning in hot rod/custom car show competition, the “goalposts have now been moved into the next county.” After its national show tour in 2007, “First Love” is now a permanent exhibit at Three Dog Garage.